Perception Cognition (3/4)

What is sensation?

Physical sensory input such as light, sound, or pressure.

What is perception?

The organization and interpretation of sensory information.

Light enters the eye. Is this sensation or perception?

Sensation.

You recognize the visual input as your friend's face. Is this sensation or perception?

Perception.

Sound waves reach your ear. Is this sensation or perception?

Sensation.

You recognize those sounds as spoken language. Is this sensation or perception?

Perception.

What is bottom-up processing?

Processing that begins with sensory data and builds toward identification or recognition.

What is another name for bottom-up processing?

Data-driven processing.

What is top-down processing?

Processing in which knowledge, expectations, context, and experience influence perception.

What is another name for top-down processing?

Conceptually driven processing.

You identify an unfamiliar symbol by analyzing its edges and curves. What type of processing is this?

Bottom-up processing.

You identify a blurry word because the rest of the sentence gives you context. What type of processing is this?

Top-down processing.

You read "I deposited money at the b_nk" as "bank." What process helped you?

Top-down processing.

Does normal perception involve only bottom-up or only top-down processing?

No. It generally involves interaction between both.

What is the constructive view of perception?

The view that perception actively uses sensory information plus previous knowledge and experience.

Which type of processing is especially associated with constructive perception?

Top-down processing.

What is the direct view of perception?

The view that useful information can be picked up directly from the environment without extensive inference.

Who is strongly associated with the direct view?

J. J. Gibson.

What is the easiest distinction between constructive and direct perception?

Constructive = interpret using knowledge; direct = pick up information directly from the environment.

What is the Gestalt principle of proximity?

Objects that are near one another tend to be grouped together.

Six dots appear as two separated groups of three. Which principle explains this?

Proximity.

What is the Gestalt principle of similarity?

Similar objects tend to be grouped together.

People wearing the same uniforms are perceived as a group. Which principle explains this?

Similarity.

What is good continuation?

The tendency to perceive lines and contours as continuing smoothly.

You perceive an X as two continuous crossing lines rather than four unrelated segments. Which principle is this?

Good continuation.

What is closure?

The tendency to perceptually complete incomplete objects.

You perceive a broken circular outline as a complete circle. Which principle is this?

Closure.

What is common fate?

The tendency to group things moving in the same direction or at the same speed.

Birds flying in the same direction are perceived as one flock. Which Gestalt principle is this?

Common fate.

What is common region?

The tendency to group elements that appear inside the same bounded area.

What is element connectedness?

The tendency to group elements that are physically connected.

What is figure-ground organization?

The tendency to divide a visual scene into a focal figure and a background.

A person is standing against a wall and you focus on the person. What is the figure?

The person.

What is cross-modal perception?

Interaction between different sensory systems in determining perception.

What is synesthesia?

An experience in which stimulation of one sensory modality automatically produces an experience associated with another.

What is the McGurk effect?

A phenomenon in which visual speech information changes the speech sound that is perceived.

You hear one syllable but see a mouth producing another, causing you to perceive a different sound. What is this?

McGurk effect.

What is the ventriloquist effect?

A visual source biases where an auditory stimulus seems to originate.

A puppet appears to be the source of the ventriloquist's voice. What effect is this?

Ventriloquist effect.

What does the rubber-hand illusion demonstrate?

Visual and tactile information can be integrated strongly enough to alter perceived body ownership.

What is an affordance?

An action possibility offered by an object or environment.

A chair seems immediately usable for sitting. What concept is this?

Affordance.

A handle naturally suggests pulling. What concept is this?

Affordance.

What is embodied perception?

The idea that perception is influenced by the body, physical abilities, current state, goals, and potential actions.

A hill appears steeper when you are physically exhausted. What concept does this illustrate?

Embodied perception.

What is Signal Detection Theory?

The view that perceptual detection reflects both sensory sensitivity and response bias.

What is sensitivity in Signal Detection Theory?

The ability to distinguish the presence of a signal from its absence/noise.

What is response bias?

A person's willingness or tendency to report that a stimulus is present.

Two people have similar hearing ability, but one says "I heard it" much more readily. What might differ?

Response bias.

What is blindsight?

The phenomenon in which someone reports not consciously seeing a stimulus but can still respond to aspects of it above chance.

A person says they cannot see a light but can accurately point toward it. What phenomenon is this?

Blindsight.

[Application] Two people see the same ambiguous drawing but interpret it differently because of their previous experiences. What process is especially involved?

Top-down/constructive perception.

[Application] You see several disconnected marks as one complete familiar object. Which general idea does this demonstrate?

Gestalt perceptual organization.

[Application] A person's visual perception of someone's mouth changes what speech sound they hear. Which type of phenomenon is this?

Multisensory integration/McGurk effect.

[Application] You automatically judge whether an opening is large enough for your body to fit through. What concept is especially relevant?

Affordance/perception-action relationship.